Several Measures for Leveraging Shanghai's Functional Advantage, Strengthening the Law Firm Brands and Accelerating the Building of Shanghai into an International Legal Service Center

With a view to fully implementing the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech in his inspection of Shanghai and his significant instructions and demands on Shanghai's work, to building the "five centers" and strengthening the "four functions" with the focus laid on services, to further strengthening the law firm brands, to raising the level of professional legal services, and to accelerating the building of Shanghai into an international legal service center, the following measures have been formulated in the light of the actual circumstances of this Municipality.

I. Development Goals

Strive to introduce and cultivate a batch of well-known and professionally competent comprehensive name brand law firms and highly specialized and proficient name brand law firms to form a Shanghai name brand law firm phalanx, build a domestically leading and internationally first-class lawyer talent highland, and construct a modern lawyer profession high-quality development pattern of vanguards taking the lead, all striving for the best and the elevation of the whole profession within three to five years.

- Focus on the urban function, guide law firms to focus on the service, to strengthen the four major functions of global resource allocation, original scientific and technological innovation, high-end industry leadership, and hub portal opening, to take commerce, intellectual property and foreign-related legal affairs as the key development direction, and to deeply join in and meet the legal service needs of the whole chain and whole process of connecting the flow, combination, allocation and management of various resource elements, and build a legal service resource allocation highland based in Shanghai, serving the whole country and radiating the world.

- Strengthen the leading law firms. Create a batch of name brand comprehensive law firms with integrated capabilities and professional level widely recognized by the profession and the market, leading in terms of the employment scale, business income, per capita income level, the number of branches and overseas branches established, and playing the role of a national leader and demonstrator.

- Optimize the quality of specialization and proficiency, and create a batch of name brand specialized and proficient law firms in the subdivisions with distinctive characteristics in the field of their core business capabilities, and prominent conducts in the aspects of their employment scale, the proportion of core business, the professional reputation, and the per capita income level, and with a national competitive advantage.

- Build a highland of talents, give full play to the role of high-level law firms as a key carrier and strive to build a high-quality team of Shanghai lawyers with firm political stance, first-rate professional standards and excellent professionalism, which shall have 300 lawyer talents with nationwide leading functions, and 5,000 lawyer talents involving foreign affairs. Set up a pool of leading talents and a pool of reserved talents with a reasonable gradient.

- Promote a standardized development, advance the law firms in this Municipality to concentrate on the connotative development, perfect the internal management, raise the service level, enhance the innovation momentum, and create a batch of small and medium-sized law firms with standardized management, targeted and innovative services.

II. Main Measures

1. Leverage Shanghai's Functional Advantage and Elevate the International Competitiveness of Shanghai's Lawyer Services

(1) Accelerate the elevation of the international commercial legal service capability. Guide law firms and lawyers to adapt to the new trend of international commercial legal services such as "Environment, Society and Governance" (ESG), and accelerate the exploration of the connotation and mode innovation of commercial legal services. Carry out the selection of commercial legal service innovation cases through appraisal, and build a batch of demonstrative law firms (business teams) for commercial legal service innovation. Encourage law firms to elevate their comprehensive international commercial legal service capabilities with the focus laid on the legal service needs due to the internationalization and multi-nationalization of enterprises, such as the "Environment, Society and Governance" (ESG), assessment reports, policy consultation, cross-border legal risk assessment, international trade negotiations, international commercial contracts and drafting of multi-country legal documents, and international commercial dispute resolutions; and to provide all-round legal service guarantee for overseas enterprises to “come in” and domestic enterprises to "go out". (Responsible units: the Municipal Bureau of Justice, Municipal Commission of Commerce, and the Municipal Bar Association)

(2) Deepen the international cooperation in commercial legal services. Encourage law firms and lawyers to participate in and serve international exhibitions such as CIIE and Service Trade Fair, and to take part in well-known international business and trade organizations such as the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and their related international conferences and activities. Relying on the mechanisms such as the Shanghai-Singapore Council and the Shanghai-Hong Kong Cooperation Conference, deepen the cooperation between the law firms and the legal service institutions in Singapore and Hong Kong in terms of the international commercial dispute resolution and the training of international commercial legal service personnel. (Responsible units: the Municipal Bureau of Justice, the Foreign Affairs Office of the Municipal People’s Government, and the Municipal Commission of Commerce)

(3) Strengthen the overseas intellectual property legal protection service. Support law firms and lawyers to participate in the exchanges and cooperation on legal protection of intellectual property rights in the Belt and Road countries, and the activities of the Shanghai Center for Arbitration and Mediation of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Encourage lawyers to participate in the international intellectual property seminars and training activities organized by this Municipality and the foreign-related intellectual property internship rotation training projects implemented by this Municipality. Reinforce the cooperation between the Municipal Bar Association and the two Shanghai branches of the National Overseas Intellectual Property Dispute Response Guidance Center, and intensify the joint action between law firms and enterprises in overseas intellectual property protection. (Responsible units: the Municipal Intellectual Property Administration, the Municipal Commission of Commerce, the Municipal Bureau of Justice, and the Municipal Bar Association)

(4) Optimize the overseas layout of law firms. Support law firms to set up branches or service networks in the countries and regions with more our overseas investment and cooperation through methods such as mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and brand export, and provide subsidies in accordance with the provisions. Set up legal service centers along the "Belt and Road" and in Southeast Asian countries (regions) to facilitate law firms to understand and explore the local legal service market. Map the overseas service network of law firms, establish a normal docking mechanism with enterprises "going out”, and support the carrying out of whole process, i.e., pre-inter-post, business cooperation. (Responsible units: the Municipal Bureau of Justice, the Municipal Commission of Commerce, the Municipal Bar Association, and Council for the Promotion of International Trade Shanghai)

(5) Promote foreign exchanges in the legal profession. Support the Municipal Bar Association to carry out exchanges and cooperation with overseas legal service professional associations and international organizations, strengthen the international communication capabilities through the signing of cooperation memorandum and mutual recognition of qualifications, and provide more platforms and opportunities for Shanghai lawyers to participate in cross-border legal services. Explore and perfect the facilitation mechanism for lawyers to handle entry-exit business endorsement, and facilitate lawyers with necessary convenience for their overseas businesses and international exchanges. (Responsible units: the Municipal Bureau of Justice, the Foreign Affairs Office of the Municipal People's Government, the Municipal Commission of Commerce, and the Municipal Bureau of Public Security)

(6) Integrate foreign-related legal service resources. Build a platform for gathering foreign-related legal service resources, collect and publish the list of foreign-related legal service agencies, international legal service market dynamics and risk prevention tips, and build communication channels between enterprises and foreign-related legal service agencies. Promote the convergent and integrated development of law firms with foreign interests, representative offices of foreign law firms in Shanghai, joint offices of Chinese and foreign law firms, arbitration institutions, commercial mediation institutions, and foreign law discerning agencies. Establish the "green channel" mechanism for foreign-related legal services to provide lawyers, arbitration and other expert teams to support Chinese enterprises in dealing with serious and abrupt international disputes. (Responsible units: the Municipal Bureau of Justice, the Municipal Bar Association, and the Municipal Commission of Commerce)

2. Implement the Action of Introducing the Strong and Nurturing the Excellent, and Enhance the Name Brand Influence of Shanghai Law Firms

(1) Strengthen the name brand building of comprehensive law firms. Support the name brand comprehensive law firms to develop and grow continuously and to enhance their domestic and international radiation by exploring the domestic and foreign markets, introducing the top lawyer talents, and elevating their comprehensive service capabilities. The qualified name brand comprehensive law firms may enjoy the relevant subsidies, incentives and policy convenience referring to the relevant provisions of this Municipality on the headquarters economy. All districts shall make greater efforts to explore and cultivate name brand comprehensive law firms, and provide the promising law firms with an opening settlement reward, office housing subsidies, and talent introduction and cultivation support in accordance with the provisions; and provide those that actively introduce excellent lawyer teams, expand comprehensive legal service fields and capabilities, and upgrade themselves into name brand comprehensive law firms, with one-time incentives and subsidies in accordance with relevant provisions. (Responsible units: the Municipal Bureau of Justice, the Municipal Commission of Commerce, the Municipal Bureau of Finance, and all Districts)

(2) Support specialized and proficient law firms to become better and stronger. Build and cultivate a batch of name brand specialized and proficient law firms in the fields of commercial business, intellectual property and foreign-related subdivisions of corporate business, maritime business, contract dispute resolution, new fields and new forms of intellectual property protection, international trade, and cross-border investment and financing. Qualified name brand specialized and proficient law firms may, by reference to the relevant provisions of this Municipality on "professional, proficient, special and new" enterprises, be given relevant policy support. Every district may focus on the cultivation of law firms with obvious characteristics of specialty and proficiency and strong growth, and give them awards and subsidies in accordance with relevant standards. (Responsible units: the Municipal Bureau of Justice, the Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, the Municipal Bureau of Finance, and all Districts)

(3) Promote the healthy development of small and medium-sized law firms. Implement the "platform assistance" action to provide small and medium-sized law firms with legal technology products and services in lawyer training, case management, business compliance construction, review of interest conflict, and other aspects, and raise the level of standardization construction. For the small and medium-sized law firms belonging to the small-scale taxpayers of value-added tax, and within the prescribed period of time, the taxable sales income to which the 3% levy rate applies shall be reduced and subject to the VAT at the 1% levy rate. The qualified small and medium-sized law firms can enjoy other relevant rescue and support policies referring to the relevant provisions of this Municipality on micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. (Responsible units: the Municipal Bureau of Justice, the Municipal Bar Association, the Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, the Municipal Development and Reform Commission, the Municipal State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, the Municipal Bureau of Finance, the Municipal Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security, the Municipal Tax Service, and the Municipal Financial Regulatory Bureau)

(4) Attract high-quality law firms to develop in Shanghai. Encourage high-quality domestic law firms to set up their headquarters or the operation and management center of the headquarters in this Municipality. Support this Municipality's law firms and high-quality law firms of other provinces and municipalities to achieve complementary advantages and strong combination through acquisition or merger. Those who have made outstanding contributions to acquisition can be rewarded in accordance with relevant measures. (Responsible units: the Municipal Bureau of Justice, the Municipal Bureau of Finance, and all Districts)

(5) Reinforce the guidance of party building in the legal profession. Strengthen the Party's overall leadership over the work of lawyers, lead the high-quality development of the legal profession by the high-quality party building, create the high-quality name brands, unite and guide the majority of lawyers to make full use of their professional advantages to serve the Chinese model of modernization. Deepen the leading role of party building in the building of lawyer teams, guide the majority of lawyers to consciously practice the purpose of "rule of law for the people", abide by the professional ethics and professional discipline, practice in good faith in accordance with laws and regulations, and safeguard the social fairness and justice. (Responsible units: the Municipal Bureau of Justice, and the Municipal Bar Association)

3. Strengthen the Supply of Policies and Institutions, and Gather the High-end Legal Talents Around the World

(1) Perfect the supporting policies for introducing and cultivating talents. Encourage law firms to strengthen the introduction and cultivation of high-end talents and talents in short supply, recommend qualified law firms to be included in this Municipality's key institutions for supporting the local professional service and the key institutions for talent introduction, and to enjoy policy support in talent cultivation, entry and exit, residence and settlement. The qualified high-end talents and talents in short supply of name brand comprehensive law firms can enjoy preferential personal income tax policies in accordance with the provisions. Encourage the arbitration institutions of this Municipality to select and employ this Municipality's outstanding lawyers as arbitrators pursuant to law. (Responsible units: the Municipal Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security, the Municipal Bureau of Finance, the Municipal Bureau of Justice, the Municipal Commission of Commerce, all Districts, and all Arbitration Institutions)

(2) Establish a special partner management system. Formulate the Regulations on the Administration of Special Partners of Shanghai Law Firms to clarify the specific procedures for certified public accountants, certified tax agents, registered cost engineers, patent agents, and professionals in party building, human resource management and information technology to become the special partners of law firms. (Responsible unit: the Municipal Bureau of Justice)

(3) Perfect the overseas talent introduction policy. Explore and practice a trial in which the chartered lawyer shall not subject to the three-year practice restriction to become a partner of law firms, and attract high-end overseas lawyer talents to practice in Shanghai. Support this Municipality's law firms to employ outstanding legal talents from world-renowned law schools. Provide support or reward in accordance with the provisions to the law firms that introduce outstanding overseas talents. Strengthen the comprehensive supporting services such as residence, education and medical care for the outstanding overseas talents. (Responsible units: the Municipal Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security, the Municipal Bureau of Justice, the Municipal Bar Association, and all Districts)

(4) Improve the channels and incentive mechanisms for lawyers to perform their social responsibilities. Support the legal profession to gather and cultivate the high-end, urgently needed and scarce foreign-related lawyers who are proficient in the legal affairs in the field of international public law. Innovate and develop the mechanisms and practices that may effectively serve the national needs and play a professional role. Encourage lawyers to extensively carry out public welfare legal services, standardize the accounting in accordance with relevant accounting treatment regulations, truthfully include the practice costs of lawyers' participation in public welfare legal services, vocational and professional training, and foreign-related rule of law construction into the corresponding accounting accounts, and standardize the declaration of cost deduction. (Responsible unit: the Municipal Bureau of Justice, the Municipal Bar Association, the Municipal Bureau of Finance, the Municipal Tax Service, and all Districts)

(5) Strengthen the construction of lawyer talent pool. Build a lawyer talent pool with the focus on the fields such as the commercial business, intellectual property rights, and foreign-related business, form an echelon of leading talents, backbone talents, and outstanding young talents, and strengthen the whole-cycle service management of talent training, employment, and encouragement. Include the qualified intellectual property lawyers into the municipal professional talent pool of intellectual property judicial protection and the advisory expert pool of response to the overseas intellectual property dispute. (Responsible units: the Municipal Bureau of Justice, the Municipal Bar Association, the Municipal Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security, and the Municipal Intellectual Property Administration)

4. Optimize and Innovate the Governance of Law Firms, and Stimulate New Driving Forces for the Development of Shanghai's Law Profession

(1) Introduce the corporate system model to enable the management. Encourage law firms to learn from the modern enterprise systems and corporate governance models to improve their internal management structure and implement the integrated management of personnel, finance, business and service standards. Encourage Law firms to set up operational risk funds and career development funds, and the proportion of career development funds for the name brand comprehensive and the specialized and proficient law firms shall not be less than 5% of the profits of the year in principle. Promote the implementation of training programs for the strategic thinking of law firm management to train the law firm management personnel. (Responsible units: the Municipal Bureau of Justice, and the Municipal Bar Association)

(2) Accelerate the research and development of the application of legal technology products. Encourage law firms to build digital management platforms, and strengthen the application of legal technology products in high-frequency scenarios. For the law firms that invest in independent research and development or cooperate with other legal service institutions and legal technology enterprises to research and develop AI large model related projects relevant to the legal verticals, and carry out the substantive research and development activities, the relevant district shall give a certain proportion of subsidy support. The law firms and lawyers participating in the research and development of legal technology products shall be encouraged and supported in accordance with the relevant policies on participation in public welfare legal services. Give full play to the resource integration role of the Municipal Bar Association, and purchase the general or customized legal technology products for all law firms’ use. (Responsible units: the Municipal Bureau of Justice, the Municipal Bar Association, the Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, and all Districts)

(3) Optimize law firms' cross-regional and migrational services. Encourage law firms to achieve "small ones upgrade to the large and large ones upgrade to the strong" through the opening of intra-city branches, cross-region mergers, and agreement cooperation. Further optimize the migration process of law firms, and promote the introduction of facilitation measures for the cross-provincial migration of law firms in the Yangtze River Delta region. (Responsible units: the Municipal Bureau of Justice, and the Municipal Bar Association)

(4) Promote the integrated development of industrial chain and lawyer profession. In the process of focusing on the three leading industries to build world-class industrial clusters, and focusing on the six key industries to promote intelligent, green and integrated development, the relevant departments and units and districts shall promote the synchronous research, synchronous deployment and synchronous development of the industrial chain and legal services, and advance the transformation of the lawyer service industry chain from the fragmented single service to the modular system service. In combination with the regional economic reality, all districts shall enhance the integration of lawyer services into the modern industrial system, and drive the high-quality development of the lawyer profession from the demand side. (Responsible units: the Municipal Development and Reform Commission, the Municipal State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, the Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, the Municipal Federation of Industry and Commerce, the Municipal Commission of Commerce, the Municipal Bureau of Justice, and all Districts)

(5) Build the advantage of legal service cluster. In combination with local economic and industrial characteristics, every district shall build an information agglomeration pool centered on the "profession + industry", and introduce relevant supporting policies based on Lin-gang Special Area, Hongqiao International Central Business Zone, Lujiazui Finance and Trade Zone, the West Bund Digit and AI Valley, West Nanjing Road-Suhewan High-end Service Agglomeration Belt, the North Bund Pujiang Golden Triangle, and the Bund Financial Agglomeration Belt. Promote the construction of "Core Supporting Area of International Legal Service Center", "Hongqiao Central Legal Affairs Area" and other distinctive legal service cluster areas. (Responsible units: all Districts, Lin-gang Special Area Administration, and Hongqiao International Central Business Zone Administrative Committee)

III. Organizational Guarantee

1. Strengthen the Organizational Promotion

The judicial administration department shall perform the duties of the competent department of the profession, and guide and promote the Municipality's lawyer profession to enhance the consensus and synergy of high-quality development. Strengthen the cross-departmental communication and collaboration, refine the relevant work guidelines, and ensure the implementation of corresponding policy support for the comprehensive, the specialized and proficient, and the small and medium-sized law firms. (Responsible units: the Municipal Bureau of Justice, relevant Units, and all Districts) 

2. Consolidate the Implementation of Responsibility

In combination with their own functions, every responsible unit shall actively build a platform to strengthen the information exchange and communication between law firms, government departments and enterprises, and promote the accurate and efficient docking of lawyer service supply and market demand. The municipal judicial administrative department shall, together with the Municipal Bar Association, strengthen the dynamic assessment of the high-quality development of the lawyer profession, and coordinate and optimize the relevant work measures in a timely manner. The implementation situation of the supporting policies to promote the high-quality development of the lawyer profession in each district shall be included in the assessment of the construction of the rule of law in Shanghai. (Responsible units: the Municipal Bureau of Justice, the Municipal Bar Association, relevant Units, and all Districts)

3. Do a Good Job of Publicity and Encouragement

Carry out the publicity of advanced deeds and typical cases of law firms and lawyers through various channels to elevate the reputation of Shanghai's lawyer profession. Give honorary encouragement and commendation to the law firms and lawyers that have worked effectively, achieved remarkable results and made outstanding contributions in promoting the high-quality development of this Municipality's lawyer profession (Responsible units: the Municipal Bureau of Justice, the Municipal Bar Association, and all Districts)

These Measures shall be effective as of January 1, 2024 and remain valid until December 31, 2028.